Heretofore, there has been known an image display device which includes: an image display surface (liquid crystal display panel and the like) for displaying an image including a three-dimensional image; and an image transmission panel (image-forming optical element) provided on the near side (viewer side) of the image display surface in spaced apart relation to the display surface and for forming the aforementioned image in space (see PTL 1, for example).
On the other hand, the present applicant has already proposed a display device in JP-A-2014-115606, PTL 2 and the like. This display device includes a case for housing a display, a mounting stand for placing thereon the display inclined at a predetermined inclination angle, and a panel-shaped image-forming optical element, wherein a projected image of a video picture displayed on the display is image-formed in a manner floating up over the image-forming optical element by means of light projected from the display and transmitted through the image-forming optical element.
The present applicant has further proposed another display device in JP-A-2014-126682 and JP-A-2014-126683. In response to an information holding element (information input element with an IC tag, a bar code and the like) such as a card, a figure and the like placed on the upper surface of the display device, this display device is capable of effectively displaying a two-dimensional video picture appearing three-dimensional and corresponding to this information holding element over the device in real time.
As shown in FIG. 10, the display devices according to these proposals are configured such that identification information (IC tag T) held by a planar information holding element (information input element such as a card C) disposed around an image-forming optical element (micromirror array M) disposed on the upper surface of an enclosure is read by a recognition means (reader R) and transmitted from the recognition means to a controller of a display D. Thus, a video picture (image I) corresponding to the information holding element is displayed on the display D including a display surface Da in an attitude inclined at a predetermined inclination angle α with respect to the image-forming optical element, so that a projected image of the video picture is displayed through the image-forming optical element as a spatial image I′ floating up in space over the enclosure. In FIG. 10, the reference character P designates an element surface of the micromirror array M, and Ma and Mb designate an upper surface and a lower surface, respectively, of the micromirror array M.